Toronto Star

What you see is what you get, and never more so than at the Hudson's Bay store at Queen and Bay. The old Simpson's building, or rather its 1929 addition, an Art Deco beauty, is now under renovation. As a result, a giant tarpaulin has gone up around the store that's unlike any architectural wrapping seen so far in Toronto. Where normally we'd see little more than a plastic sheet covering a scaffold, probably a vile blue colour, this time the contractors have put up a covering that has a life-sized photographic representation of the building it hides. The effect is remarkable; it's almost as if the structure remains in full view. Given that this is one of the most exquisite examples of commercial architecture in the city, the kind of thing that hasn't been built in these parts for half a century or more, it's nice not to have it disappear from the corner. Indeed, reproduced in this form, the building becomes a picture, one that's not only hard to ignore, but one that demands our attention. This is good. It reminds passersby of an architectural treasure that's easily overlooked.